Drainage Grates: 3 Questions You Should Ask Yourself

Grates serve two main functions in a residential drainage system. First, they're designed to direct water into the drainage channel. Secondly, they cover the areas in which they're installed in order to allow for human or vehicular traffic over these areas.

Various factors might come into play when choosing between different types of grates for your the drainage system on your driveway. Here are answers to three important questions that you should ask yourself when shopping for drain grates.

What's The Average Amount Of Rainfall In Your Locality?

The average amount of rainfall your locality receives will determine the average quantities of water that the drain grates will be expected to handle. The average amount of water determines the most appropriate size of openings that the grates should have in order to allow for efficient drainage.

Closely related to this is the frequency with which floods occur in your locality. Grates with larger-sized openings are ideal for flood-prone areas and areas that receive higher amounts of rainfall.

How Is The Vegetative Cover In Your Locality And Within Your Landscape?

If you live in an area surrounded by mature trees, these trees will shed their leaves and drop their dead branches from time to time. The leaves and branches will easily be carried by surface run-off when it rains or floods and they might end up in your drainage system.

For this reason, the openings on your preferred drainage grates should be large enough to accommodate the amount of water flow yet small enough to prevent entry of foreign materials such as leaves and branches.

What Sort Of Traffic Will The Grates Be Exposed To?

The kind of traffic that drainage grates will be regularly exposed to determines the most appropriate type of surface finish that the grates should have. Grates will either have a smooth surface finish or one that's ragged.

For many homeowners, a smooth surface finish is seen to have greater aesthetic appeal. More importantly however, the smooth finish allows for regular vehicular traffic over the grates without damaging the tyres of the vehicle.

A ragged surface finish would be ideal for flood-prone areas (or areas which receive higher rainfall) that have an abundance of mature trees. The ragged finish is more aggressive at capturing foreign materials that may be carried into the drain through surface run-off. This type of finish would also be ideal for drainage grates installed in areas where vehicular traffic is minimal.